Answers

Yes, it's true. I struggled with reading novels in high school because I would skim over pages without really picturing what was going on. During my junior year, my English teacher suggested me to keep notes on the books I read and it worked wonders. It forced me to stay alert and focused. In general, taking notes helped me in other classes to because I could look back at them for reference. But everyone's learning style is different.

Jotting down notes is an excellent way of enabling us to go back over an event we witnessed.
The most popular note book used here in UK is called a 'reporters notebook' - you flip over the pages quickly and easily as you jot notes down in shorthand.

I think it helps a lot of people, including myself. Taking notes helps me stay awake and focused during a lecture; taking notes while reading helps me focus on what's important in the text, and organize it in a way that makes the most sense to me; doing math problems out by hand helps me remember HOW to do the problems during an exam, better than just looking at a correct solution; etc.

But different people learn in different ways, so you may not be in the majority when it comes to learning styles, and there might be a method that suits you better. Also one thing I've noticed about the "writing notes" form of studying is that it tends to take more time than others, so is the benefit from the writing-out itself, or the increased time you spend trying to learn the materials? For example, when I was in law school we were taught to write case briefs to prepare for class. If I had time, I'd write the briefs out on a sheet of paper; if not, I'd just highlight passages and jot a few notes in the textbook. Was the benefit from writing the brief, or from spending the extra time learning the text? I couldn't say.

it really does help some people remember but not all. Different people learn in different I am Visual and audio learner. I don't have a photographic memory but an almost photographic memory and writing notes really does help me to remember, but then i have have to decipher my notes later on.

You really should keep in mind that for those of us who started college in the 1970's or earlier there was no internet, no cell phones, and even calculators were not that common. When i started college in 1971 most engineering students had slide rule holders on their belts, bu the time i graduated the first time in 1975, the majority of engineering students had calculator holders on their belts. and the slide rules were disappearing...